Tuesday, May 12, 2009

The finale of the Biggest Loser last night delivered a surprise ending -- a surprise especially to me because I fell asleep in the commercial break before the final weigh in, which is why I am finishing this blog at 4:30am.

Flying in and snatching certain victory from game dominator Tara was Helen, who clinched the win by losing 54.47% (140 pounds) of her total body weight.

In fact, with a 52.72% weight loss, Tara ended up coming in third place after both Helen and Mike, who lost 53.35% of his total body weight.

If it's any consolation, Tara looked healthier (read: better) than Helen. But Helen obviously worked her butt off (literally) and deserves the congratulations.

The competition between the eliminated players was handily won by 64-year-old Jerry who posted a 47.97% weight loss of 177 pounds.

Now that I've gotten the big news out of the way, I'll run down the show as it happened. (I wrote this as it happened, which is why it is written in present tense.)

Mike is the first up. He is crazy skinny. I think he must be burning 200 calories a minute just by smiling.

Ron's next. Holy smokes! I cannot believe how good he looks. But which one did America choose to be the 3rd finalist?

It's Mike! That's gonna make the race to the title pretty interesting. Mike, Tara & Helen. I'd like to say that it's between Tara and Mike, but I could see Helen sneaking in for the win. (ETA: Did I call that or what?!)

New vote: Two people vying for final spot on the next season. America gets to vote which one should be on the show. It's between Erinn, who is a senior at Ohio State, and Amanda, a 19-year-old from New Jersey. They look very similar, both in size and physical appearance -- pretty blondes. They are going to work out with Bob and Jillian during the show. Amanda looks tough in the workouts. Reminds me of Tara II. Seems like Erinn needs the help the most. But what do I know? Because Amanda was voted in as the final contestant on the next season of The Biggest Loser.

Damien and Nicole: He did ok. She is smokin'! When she walks down the aisle in August, her wedding dress will be a size 8.

Pound for Pound challenge. Please leave a comment if you participated -- and how much you've lost! Across the country, nearly 3 million pounds lost! Plus, if you pledge to pounds to lose this summer, General Mills will donate up to 1 million more pounds of food. Last chance pledges will be accepted through the end of this month.

The newly buff Filipe and Sione did the Tongan dance again. It was awesome!

Carla: SW: 379. CW: 251 (-128 pounds) 33.77%

Joelle: Really looks beautiful. SW: 309. CW: 229 (-80 pounds) 25.89%

Blaine: SW: 365. CW: 249. (-116 pounds) 31.78%

Dane: SW: 412. CW: 258 (-154 pounds) 37.38%

In the three weeks before the finale, Blaine and Dane completed a 1/2 marathon, a full marathon, and a 1/2 iron man competition!

Mandie: SW: 263. CW: 171 (-92 pounds) 34.98%

Aubrey: SW: 249. CW: 194 (-55 pounds) 22.09% -- 11 pounds for each of her 5 kids! In the scheme of this game, 55 pounds doesn't seem like much, but I wouldn't turn it down if it came my way.

Cathy: SW: 293. CW: 198 (-95 pounds) 32.42% weight loss

Kristin: As a blonde! Not sure I like that so much. It reminds me of that crazy Susan Powter woman. SW: 360. CW: 193 (-167 pounds). 46.39%. She missed overtaking Jerry by just 5 pounds!

David: SW: 393. CW: 350 (-43) 10.94%.

Daniel: I love this guy. When he came out, he said "I can lose 100 pounds and I'm still obese. Then I can lose another 100 and 50 more if I gotta. The point is don't ever give up." SW: 454. CW: 312 (-142 pounds) 31.28%.

Laura: SW: 285. CW: 199 (-86 pounds). 30.18%

Jerry just needs to beat Shannon and Ron to win the $100,000. He's got Shannon, no problem. Ron...I'm not sure. As Jerry said, it comes down to the two old guys.

Shannon: SW: 283. CW: 191 (-92 pounds) 32.51% A lot of us felt like Helen should have let Shannon stay on the ranch when the choice was between the two of them. But Shannon has lost almost 100 pounds on her own, so kudos to her.

Ron: SW: 430. CW: 238 (-192 pounds)

Jerry wins the $100,000! To celebrate, he hoisted Jillian up in his arms. At age 64, he's the oldest competitor ever on The Biggest Loser!

Now on to the three finalists:As I said earlier, Mike looks super skinny. Helen, well, she looks a kind of wrinkly, but skinny. Think she could have chosen a more tasteful dress. Then Tara, again with the ugly dress, but she looks amazing. If I had to guess, I'd say Mike's gonna take the prize. (ETA: Guess I wasn't so sure earlier...)

Tara chose the order of weight loss, based on percentage of weight lost on the ranch:

Tara looks like she knows that Helen has won it. She needs to lose more than 160 pounds. Did she do it?

Nope.Tara: SW: 294. CW: 139 (-155 pounds) 52.72%

I know that Tara (and all of the contestants) have "won" by earning their lives, back. But I'd be lying if I said I was ok with the outcome. Helen beating Tara in the final weigh in was kind of like the New York Giants beating the then-unbeaten New England Patriots in the 2008 Super Bowl, except that I was happy with the Super Bowl outcome.

15
comments:

Anonymous
said...

I agree, I'm concerned with the way Helen looked. I thought she looked ill. She obviously doesn't feel that way. I felt bad for Tara, you could see the disappointment on her face. Nice job with the commentary!

@Tempeste -- Good for you! I think I'm going to pledge in the last chance pledge to set a goal for myself for the summer.

@OldWoman -- I'm going to blog about the OLD FOLKS winning over at http://allthingsaging.blogspot.com. I hope to have it posted by this time tomorrow. Would love to have you check it out. (PS -- I was eating oreo pie during the finale...)

You are just being too nice. Helen looked like a wrinkly old woman trying to be a supermodel. Did you see all the posing and preening she did?

Mike looked absolutely awesome!!!!!!!!!!! He was the biggest winner in my book, he worked so hard and did what he needed to do to get healthy.

Tara looked beautiful and healthy too. She could be thinner, but she looks great the way she is. She is so beautiful and she seemed to have the most personal issues to deal with in regards to how she became as large as she was. I think Mike and Tara did the most work and will be most successful.

I can't help it, but I don't like Helen. I don't think she should have sent her daughter home. Her daughter is young and wants to get married and have a family, and I think Helen is just conceited.

Altho' I wanted Tara to win, I think Helen is justifiably proud of herself. As far as should she have put herself first over her daughter goes, it seems that women can't win on that issue. Did anyone else notice that Aubrey looked distinctly uncomfortable and that she looked as if she had gained at home (or at least not continued to lose) because she is unable to make herself a priority. We often preach that women need to lead by example by making themselves a priority (a happy mom = a happy family, etc), but when Helen did just that, she's been slammed for it. Just something to think about.

While Marine Wife's comment was thought provoking, I think there is a BIG difference between Aubrey finding time to make herself a priority in a family that includes 5 pre-teens and Helen putting herself and her desires ahead of her daughter's needs not once but TWICE this season when the choice of who to send home was between Helen & Shannon! Her picture should be in the dictionary along with the definitions of selfish and self-centered! I have never liked her and would be VERY surprised if she doesn't gain a significant percentage of that weight back now that the contest is over and real life begins! She looked way too skinny, to the point of being unhealthy, and sounded as if she had been engaging in extreme training for the sole purpose of winning the contest! Seemed to me that she was in it to win the game while Mike and Tara both felt that they had won just by learning new habits, becoming healthy and getting their lives back! I think that in the long run ... keeping it off and staying healthy will be far easier for Mike and Tara than it will for Helen!

Jerry was freakin' amazing! What an inspiration! Actually all of them were pretty inspiring!

Daniel had the best line (and attitude) of the night! Being in the upper 3s (sad face) myself I can so relate to his statement about being able to lose 100 and still being morbidly obese! So you lose the next 100 and then if you have 'em ... 50 more! The "trick" is to never give up believing that no matter how many times you have to start over or how long it takes ... you will get there! I think he's well on his way to success! Aubrey is trying to beleive that too but seems to have a little more trouble moving it from her head to her heart!

Next season? I was a bit disturbed by the competition between would be contestants and America choosing between them. Glad to see they plan to provide some help for the "loser." I am still hoping they will somehow work her into the season even though America didn't choose her! I would also LOVE to see the producers choose to bring Max into the show next season!

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